Epiphany in White
by PTBvisiongrrl
Summary: StephanieJoeRanger angst point of no return decision needed


**Challenge #112: **_It Happened One Night_

**Author: **PTBvisiongrrl  
**Title:** Epiphany in White  
**Rating:** PG (for one slip up of language)  
**Spoilers/Warnings: **refers to a comment made in Eleven on Top

_Okay, I have never seen It Happened One Night, so I had to look it up on the IMDB and read the summary. I'm not sure this is quite the mood I should be going for, but once I started it, I was determined to finish it. And since I finished it, I was posting it. Comments are always appreciated, as is criticism. I have a thick skin, so feel free to be critical._

Stephanie, eyes closed and breath caught in her throat, could not summon the courage to look in the mirror. The simple thought of opening her eyes made her nauseous and dizzy. Her mother hovered apprehensively, fluffing and adjusting a cloud of cathedral train around Stephanie's demure, two-inch platform silver heels. She hadn't worn such- prissy? Calm? Non-slutty?—shoes since her Catholic school prom, unless she was doing a take down or there was a possibility that she would need to wade through garbage.

Valerie tugged back and forth on a poofy veil, jerking Stephanie's head back and forth with it. "Aren't you even going to look at it?" Valerie grumbled. "You look a thousand times better in that than I did in mine."

Grandma Mazur piped up, "That's because she's half the size you were at the time, Val!"

Even imaging the look on Valerie's face, Stephanie couldn't find the guts to open her eyes. You would think that a simple thing like a dress wouldn't faze someone who had been kidnapped, tortured, under a contract for her death, almost gang raped, stalked more than once, fire bombed, nearly blown up multiple times….. But it did.

Because it meant that she and Joe were really, finally going to get married.

There was a dress, a ring, a hall, a cake, a bouquet, a photographer, and a date.

And a huge problem. Ranger, her job at Rangeman, and the fact that she finally realized that she loved Ranger. Who still didn't do relationships.

So that was the end of that. She and Ranger were never going to be- not now, not someday. Joe had proposed for real. She had accepted.

So why couldn't she open her eyes?

As her mother began a running commentary on how this dress was so much better than the last one, and similar to Tina Tartaglione's (married last month) but looked better on Stephanie, Stephanie opened them without looking at her reflection. "If you say so, Mom, this is fine with me." Mrs. Plum didn't notice the dead tone of Steph's voice, or the fact that she never even saw what the dress looked like. Every member of her family was just glad that she was finally going to marry that wonderful Joseph Morelli and start squeezing out babies.

_(Across town)_

"Boss, there's someone here to see you," Tank tried to hint to Ranger with his tone that this was someone he might not really want to see. "She says its important."

"Give whoever it is an appointment," Ranger answered, sipping a whiskey tumbler and staring mindlessly out of his tinted office window. "Preferable sometime next year." _After the wedding, and I've had time to bottom out and claw my way back up._

Tank's answer was cut off with a "Dammit, lady!" and a lot of coughing. Ranger barely found the desire to go and look; he didn't have to, though, because the visitor was walking down the hall, thumping on and opening every door, yelling, "Where is that bounty hunter with the nice package?"

Only one person that _that_ could be. Ranger cringed as she found his door, wondering where Steph was and why she wasn't reigning the old woman in. "There you are! Why aren't you trying to win back my granddaughter before she marries that lying, cheating, no good cop?"

Ranger was dumbfounded for a minute, then resigned. "She chose him, Mrs. Mazur."

Grandma Mazur stared at him specutively. "Her mother chose him. Chambersburg chose him." She crossed her arms. "Stephanie settled for him."

Ranger sighed. He didn't want to do this, have this conversation with Stephanie's grandmother. But he knew where Stephanie got her stubbornness from, and that he wasn't going to win. So he tried to make empty promises- "I'll talk to her at some point-"

"Don't you try to blow me off, young man." Grandma Mazur drew herself up to her full four foot and eleven height. "If you let her marry that scumbag, I will tell everyone in the 'burg that she married him because you turned out to be gay."

Ranger almost laughed, but caught himself. "Go ahead."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't underestimate me." The look sent a chill up his spine. Stephanie had also gotten her sense of revenge from this woman, too, he thought. But really, she couldn't do anything that would make him go to Stephanie and wreck her best chance at happiness.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Mazur. But Stephanie and I were never more than friends. Close friends, but still only friends-"

"You teach all your 'close' friends self defense at 4 AM and in the dark?" She shook her head. "I'm sorry, too, Mr. Ranger. Maybe more than you, because I am not deluding myself." She turned to go, then turned to face him once more. "She tried on wedding dresses today. Funny thing is, she wouldn't even open her eyes to look at them in the mirror. She picked one without even seeing what it looked like." Grandma Mazur left him with penetrating glare.

_(Three months later, at Stephanie's apartment, after her wedding shower.)_

Stephanie sighed as she opened her door. Joe had taken all the presents to his house, bitching the entire time that she was going back to her apartment instead of staying at his house. An old argument for the duration of this engagement- and before. But this was her last week in the apartment, before she finally did give it up and move in permanently with Joe. He just didn't know when he had won or how to be gracious about it. One more fucking week, she shouted in her head. Can't you just give me one more week to be myself?

She knew that this was not what she was supposed to be thinking about. She was supposed to be imaging their Aruba honeymoon- redoing his house into _their_ house- wondering if the kids would look like a Plum or a Morelli. She was not supposed to be having an argument with Joe in her head. She sighed again. Was this what life was going to be like from now on?

A package wrapped in beautifully embossed cream paper, topped with a sheer bow of gold, waited for her on her kitchen counter. She knew, without a doubt, who it was from. So like Ranger- supporting her decisions, even if he didn't like them.

At least, she hoped that he didn't like the fact that she was marrying someone else. The topic had never come up after her engagement became public knowledge, and Ranger had kept contact at work on a completely professional level. No more poaching, not even an attempt. He had never shown a single reaction to the news, other than to ask, "For real, this time?", to which she could barely affirmatively nod. Then he asked about a file she was researching, the subject dropped.

Three beers and a bubble bath later, and she was ready to open the present. Typical Ranger practicality and thoughtfulness- and unthinking largesse- a year of dinners from Rossini's. There was also a hand written note. _Stephanie- _

_I know how you hate to cook, and how you love the fettuccini alfredo with_

_sausage. I suggest trying some of the green stuff with it. Enjoy. Wishing_

_you happiness, always. _

_Ranger._

She almost broke down in tears. He wished her happiness always? Even with Morelli?

Once, Ranger had said someday he would be ready for a family, a regular life, but not now. When would someday be here? Would it ever?

Could her heart afford to wait?

Wiping away tears, she sniffled. Could her heart afford NOT to wait?

She refused to think beyond grabbing her keys and heading out to her new, black Jeep. She drove to Rangeman on automatic pilot, stopping at the gate long enough to flash her pass and pull into her normal spot. Was this a mistake? She sat in the driver's seat, trembling, when her eyes fell on the passenger seat next to her. She hadn't noticed a bouquet of exotic, tropical flowers with a card attached, bearing now familiar handwriting.

_Not today, but someday. I promise._

It brought a new wave of tears, but she stoically swallowed them and drove back to her own place, again sitting in the driver's seat instead of getting out and going up. The flowers next to her haunted her, making her heart race in delight and anxiety. Her soul felt lighter than it had since she had told Joe yes. Just the vague possibility of life with Ranger at some distant and shadowy point in the future made her happier than the certainty of years with Joe. Her mind stepped in where her heart was confused.

The answer was obvious. Knowing the truth gave her a moment of epiphany. A golden someday was better than years of sack cloth and ashes for not being what Joe wanted her to be. Warmth spread through her, calming the fear of this break up conversation and her family's reaction. She wanted this moment for herself- the conversation could wait. Then, a familiar cell phone ring broke her reverie.

"You available for a stakeout shift, Babe?" Ranger asked.

Stephanie smiled broadly. Someday was not today, but she was willing to wait. And in the meantime, she could spend time with him, comfortable in the knowledge that one day, he would love her the way she so desperately wanted him to.

And she could admire that nice package.


End file.
